Just writing to wish everyone a happy new year. I hope 2009 brings you lots of joy and happiness.

I've decided I'm not doing resolutions this year since they never come true. I didn't achieve any of mine yesterday, so rather than feeling like a failure, I'm just going to scrap that whole ritual altogether.

This New Year's, I was not in the mood to celebrate at all. I guess the poor economy really had a huge effect on us - apparently there was a huge damper in New Year's celebrations throughout the city. I spent my New Year's Eve at home with my family playing cards. Sounds lame but it was pretty fun I guess. I mean, that's the kind of New Year's I'm used to from my childhood.

I got a Canon DSLR for Christmas so I'm going to be trying to improve my photography. Stay tuned, maybe I'll post a couple pictures up if I'm not overly embarrassed.

It's been two months since I last logged in to Livejournal? 

I guess that goes to show how busy I've been.

Let's see: part-time job, job search, 6 courses (and actually attending every class this year), midterms practically every week

The workload never ends. Thank god for only one month left of school :D

A 2006 Bestseller and winner of numerous prestigious literary awards which I'm too lazy to name, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is definitely a must-read by all. It is a memoir of the successful and accomplished New York writer. However, unlike a lot of successful businessmen these days, Jeannette Walls didn't have everything handed to her. As a matter of fact, she had nothing.

Jeannette Walls is one of those kids that moved around a lot. You know, the ones with a father in the army and changed schools every 4 months? The difference between Walls and that kid, however, is that Walls' father did not have a steady. Simply put, he didn't really have much of a job at all.

Walls grew up with 3 siblings, a "hippie" artsy mother, and a drunk father. Mother Walls hated the idea of domesticity and never quite understood parenthood. Needless to say, the Walls children were down-right poor, picking food out of garbage cans just to survive.

What is truly inspirational about this work is that Walls really communicates the anguish and fear she suffered during her childhood. With the level of her success now, the novel really shows that anything is possible if you do a little dreaming, planning, and never give up.

This is byfar one of the best novels I've read in a while now, so I strongly urge you all to head to the local bookstore today and pick yourselves up a copy. Next on my list to tackle: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery

As the vast majority of you must already know, it's day 12 of the 29th Summer Olympic Games - purpose to bring the world together through good sportsmanship. This year, the ever-controversial China gets the prestigious honour of hosting the games in its capital, Beijing. Instead of receiving praise and respect for a job well done thus far, all that China's gotten is constant bashing in Western media. The news is constantly bombarding us with images of "fake fireworks," "underage gymnasts," and "lip-synching" among other things. Is this a sign of good sportsmanship? I don't think so.

Opening Ceremony - Fake Fireworks and Lip-Synching
First thing I'd like to say is, who the hell cares? Does any of this relate directly to the performance of Chinese athletes whatsoever? What do these trivial details have to do with anything other than the fact that Americans love bashing any living thing that may pose a threat to their "great economical power." The argument is that the Olympics is supposed to be "pure" and lying to the public is just tainting the Olympic image. As if Americans haven't tampered with the "pure" image of the Olympics - track star Marion Jones ring any bells? This "great" Olympic athlete was stripped of her five Olympic medals after having tested positive for steroid use. I don't know about you, but this steroid business is definitely worse than a cute, little, innocent girl lip-synching or some crowd-wooing footprint fireworks. Secondly, the International Olympic Committee is the one who approves everything that goes on during the opening ceremony, including the lip-synching. Funny how the same lip-synching act by Luciano Pavarotti in the Winter 2006 games in Torino didn't generate nearly a tenth of the current hype. So, they made a shallow decision, choosing a cuter girl to sing and entertain. The purpose of the opening ceremony is to entertain, not to showcase young talent. And you callous Americans - don't even act like you're not a shallow population. If it were that other girl singing, would you continue watching or would you the channel? My though exactly.

Free Tibet Issue
To set things clear, I know NOTHING about what I dub the "Free Tibet" issue going on in China right now. Nil, zippo, zilch. Nor do I claim to know anything about it. And I'm DEFINITELY not going to parade around wearing a "FREE TIBET" shirt to appear politically correct because you know what, you just look down-right stupid! You Tibet-supporting fools know nothing of the issue. Doing so would require extension knowledge of centuries of Chinese history, including China's culture and geography among other things. Have you even been to China? Why try to understand a complex issue that you will never comprehend? Constantly bombarding your people with images of how "cruel" the Chinese government is isn't aiding the situation despite what your ignorant self may want to believe.

I live in Canada, and I know most Americans don't give a damn about Canadian politics - funny how they know nothing of their neighbouring countries' politics yet they try to understand that of a country that's half-way across the world - but for decades Quebec (a French-speaking province of Canada) has been trying to separate from the rest of Canada (which mostly speaks English). I'm not going to dwell into the details, as that would require years of explanation, but simply put, Quebec does not get along with the rest of Canada. In November 2006, the kind but politically-naive Stepher Harper (who failed to attend the Opening Ceremony because he didn't support Tibet -- numbskull) decided to keep the Quebecois' mouths shut by recognizing Quebec as a nation within Canada. Well, I've definitely heard less about Quebec's separatist movements since that time but ultimately, that move made no difference within Canada. The anglophones still hate the francophones, and vice versa. Quebec is still very much isolated from the rest of Canada. So, will "freeing" Tibet really spark all that change that it's supposed to. I'm no economist, but something tells me that it's going to take a whole lot more than the forming of a new country to keep everyone happy.

Communist China and Human Rights
I wasn't alive during the whole Cold-War thing. Somehow, I missed out on the negative points of communism. What are they again? Someone, please refresh my memory. Sure, democracy works well for America, but this system does not work for everyone. With a population that is almost 10 times that of the US, how can you even compare the two countries and expect that the same political system would work in both? Heck, you guys don't look the same, don't speak the same language, don't eat the same food. After decades of Chinese residents living in poverty, communism was brought into China and actually lifted hundreds of thousands of families out of poverty. The last time I checked, democracy hasn't done that for anyone. There's still a large poverty line in America, is there not? Point here to the Americans: just because communism is helping China become one of the greatest economic powers of all time and you're scared of losing your place in the world economy does not give you the right to criticize another country's perfectly effective system of governance.

The human right argument about how Chinese residents can't "do anything" and how the state controls everything that's allowed to happen within the country is completely bogus. I know plenty of Chinese people who actually live in China and are perfectly content with the laws. If the residents aren't complaining, why do you have to intrude and complain on their behalf? That's the problem with Americans - they are intrusive, don't mind their own business, and decide to bomb other countries that are suspected of "building nuclear weapons." Chinese people are more conservative than Americans. Thus, many of the luxuries that Americans are used to and are not permitted to do in China don't bug the Chinese. Is that so hard to believe?

Age of Chinese Gymnasts
Artistic gymnastics is my favourite Olympic event to watch and I hate to see its beauty ruined by the propaganda spread by American commentators. Okay, so a lot of evidence suggests that the girls on the Gold-medal winning Womens Gymnastics Team are underage. So what? That doesn't take away from their excellent performances. Ultimately, it's not really a disadvantage for opposing teams but rather an advantage, for these girls have less years of experience competing and will make errors that more experienced gymnasts know to watch out for. Moreover, do keep in mind that Chinese people are built smaller than Caucasians. Genetics come into play, but more so, lifestyle. Americans are notorious for their fight against obesity, with the rate of childhood obesity among the highest in all of the world. Just because Chinese people, in general, age beautifully with flawless skin, and do not pig out on tons of popcorn while sitting in front of their television sets, does not make these gymnasts kids just because they're about 1/4 of the average weight of an American with the skin as youthful as an American 2-year-old.

I was watching gymnastics on NBC for a few nights now and what the commentators say never ceases to amaze me. Here are a few rude remarks that really ticked me off:

•  During the Women's All Around competition, every time a Chinese gymnast received her score: "We are still trying to figure out how ____ got such a high score despite her (list of minuscule errors). She only received ___ short of Shawn Johnson/Nastia Liukin's stellar performance. That performance was no where near as perfect as Shawn Johnson/Nastia Liukin's."
  
  I admit that the Chinese gymnasts did make a lot of errors in some of their events, but that doesn't mean that other aspects of their performance - including the difficulty of the routine - was bad. Chinese gymnasts are great at execution and every error in gymnastics is only a minor one-tenth deduction. One or two errors does not result in rock-bottom scores. Go learn how to count.
• During the vault final, as Cheng Fei is about to do her final vault, commentator snaps this remark, "Winning this competition could mean a house for her family."
  
  How outrageously demeaning is that? Even if Cheng Fei's family is indeed living below the poverty line, does that have anything to do with the Olympics? Learn to keep your mouth shut and seriously don't expect help from the Chinese the next time you offend a less well-tempered nation that bombs your sorry ass.
  
• When Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson were in gold and silver medal position during finals, this comment was made:  "Isn't it lovely how a Chinese gymnast goes to America, brings two American girls to Beijing, and takes the gold and silver from the Chinese?"

In brief, China has put on a great 29th Olympiad thus far, bringing together over 204 countries from all over the world. The Chinese are good athletes who dominate in many events such as diving, gymnastics, and weight lifting, among other sports. They train hard and don't complain. China has one of the largest GDP in the world right now and their threat of becoming the next big power is immense. America - face it, your glory's long over. Your usual tactic of bashing your competitor is not going to work this time.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stripped_Olympic_medals
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/olympics/2008/08/ioc_defends_rejection_of_girl.html
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2008/04/07/pavarotti-olympics-lipsync.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/28/america/NA_GEN_Canada_Quebec.php
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/17/content_9444681.htm

Reading classics is a bragging right. It shows how intellectual you are and how much patience you have to actually follow through with the two or three hundred or so pages of mind-numbing text. But seriously, who really reads classics for leisure?

I admit, I once was one of those eager-to-please-people people who would read a classic novel just to say she did. I've attempted plenty - A Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, Treasure Island, To Kill A Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice - and the result was always the same: I gave up within two pages. It's not that I'm illiterate (I can finish the Da Vinci Code in one sitting), it's just that these novels fail to grasp my attention.

I met a girl this summer who told me that Jane Eyre was ridiculously funny and it was her favourite book. Or maybe she was referring to the Picture of Dorian Gray. In any case, neither of those two books were funny. My friend is reading them right now and she says they're both boring as hell.

Now that I'm out of high school and studying a major in university that has nothing to do with literature whatsoever, I don't give a damn about classic novels anymore. Don't talk about them to me or I will just drift away.

In all honesty, the only classic I've ever enjoyed is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I'm actually re-reading it again at the present moment :D

I know there's this stigma regarding calorie counting. Only anorexic girls do it right? Wrong. A lot of perfectly healthy people do it, including men.

I discovered the benefits to calorie counting about eight months ago. I started doing it because I realized that I consumed wayyyy too many calories per day. Each day, a woman only requires 1800 calories a day and a man requires 2000 a day to maintain the bodily functions in good working order. If you consume less, you will lose weight, and if you overconsume, you gain. It's all a basic mathematical equation really.

I particularly enjoy calorie counting because I am secretly a nerd inside and love counting things! I may have an acute form of OCD or something because I count everything I do. It's fun.

For those of you that do not like math, i suggest you try this little trick: round all your figures to the nearest 50 or 100 calories. I always do that. Say I eat a large apple worth 80 calories, I will round to 100. I always round up, and that way I know that the most I consumed one day is 2000 calories, although most likely I will have consumed a whole lot less.

In brief, calorie counting is the biggest step to weight loss. I lost 10 pounds with minimal effort just by counting calories.

I normally wouldn't admit to the fact that I buy into this whole materialistic, superficial world of reality TV, but this time I'm proud to announce that I tuned in to the last episode of ANTM last night. I am genuinely satisfied with the results. Whitney, the first ever "plus-sized" model on the competition came up top. I'm quite proud of her accomplishments. It must've been really hard to play it cool when faced with the pressure to be thin and beautiful everyday on set!

Whitney is truly the voice of America (take a look at her interview at http://www.cwtv.com/shows/americas-next-top-model, really speaks to her character). I hope that with her big win, America's battle against anorexia and bulimia may be slightly reduced.

Anya, the runner-up, really got on my nerves. She only said, like, about every other word. She was also very childish I would say, not mature enough for the world of prissy models.

The finished reading this book two days ago. It's great, a really good laugh.

One annoying thing about Bridget is that she always tells herself she's going to quit smoking, etc. but she never does! And instead she overindulges herself in like 20+ cigarettes a day! Haha she reminds me somewhat of my sister, always making decisions on impulse rather than logic.

I have been calorie counting since January of this year. I think the most I've ever consumed in one day is about 3000 calories. And to me, that's a dreadful lot. I usually consume around 1500 a day. And Bridget?! 5764!!! Is it just me or is that a little overdoing it. How can someone possibly eat that much? That is like the amount of food I'd consume in 3 and a half days!

Speaking of calorie counting, I bought myself a handy calorie-counting food guide for my purse. It's great and tells you how many calories and contained in most major grocery items.

At the moment I'm trying to watch Bridget Jones' Diary but my internet connection is cutting off on my every few seconds. Gosh, this is annoying.

I am told that this book is a childhood classic, so that's why I spent my day reading it today. It was definitely a fun and light read. I'm not completely sure but I think it was read to me back in grade school. Ahh... those days were bliss.

What I liked about the story was the little prince's love for his planet. I don't think I could feel the same way about my home but I am going to try to love my planet now too. Being of Chinese descent and brought up in Canada, I really don't feel like I have a pride for my country, or culture, as a matter of fact. When people ask where I'm from, I say I'm Chinese and that's that. People speak to me in Chinese and I respond in English. This is all going to change.

I hope you all enjoyed your Mother's Day and spent a decent portion of time with your mother, children, or even just reminiscing.

I spent my Mother's Day helping out at my uncle's flower shop. Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year so they needed all the help that they could get. I actually enjoyed myself - I learned a lot about flowers and such. If someone were ever to get me flowers, remember, I like LILIES. teehee :D

I finished reading For One More Day by Mitch Albom today. I downloaded it yesterday from http://www.intexblogger.com. It's a fantastic site - offers over 200 free ebooks for you to download. The selection is great too, a lot of modern stuff along with the many classics. I downloaded a good 20 something books and am hoping to really get my read on this summer.

Conveniently enough, For One More Day is a book about a man remorsing over his life and his relationship with his family, primarily with his mother. It's a fantastic read and really gets you thinking about the real things that matter in this world. If you've got the time, why not spare a good 2hr on a book that will change your life?

So far, my summer has been nothing short of dull. But I've been trying to make the best of it. My goal is to do pilates and yoga everyday, while playing guitar and piano on a daily basis as well. I also want to get some rollerblading in there since I won't be able to go swimming this summer.

I've been following this series of pilates on youtube. It's amazing. Each segment is only ten minutes long and really gets you worked up in a sweat. By far, the abs workout was definitely the hardest. I remember doing it back in January and not being able to complete it. Now, 5 months later, I am proud to say that I can actually finish the entire routine with "difficult" variations. The video can be found here:



I've also learned this cool rollerblading trick called the bicycle:

Summer has finally arrived. I seriously have not had the time to read (aside from textbooks and magazines) and would love to spend this summer catching up. My current book list:

• A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You : Stories by Amy Bloom
• For One More Day by Mitch Albom
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
• A Short Guide to A Happy Life by Anna Quidlen
• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I watched the World Championships until 1am last night. I think that I'm going to work towards ice dancing because I'm too "chicken" to do any fancy jumps and such.

Currently searching for a figure skating coach for the summer.

In the blink of an eye, I am no longer a child, but an adult that is nearing her 20s. I was a 90s child and my musical preference (sometimes) reflects that. I decided to be nostalgic the other day and downloaded a soundtrack full of the "top 100" hits of the 90s. Here are some of the songs I listened to and what they mean to me:

Des'ree - You Gotta Be

This was my graduation song in grade 6. I attended my elementary school from junior kindergarten to grade 6. A lot had changed from the day I step foot into the school and the day that I officially left its doors for good. Back in junior kindergarten, I did not know how to speak a word of English. I was pretty antisocial because I was pretty much kept locked up in my house all of my childhood. Interactions with the other kids in my class was hard because of racial discrimination (I was one of the only asian kids in my school back then) as well as linguistic barriers. By the end of my 6th grade year, everything changed. I was one of the most proficient speakers of English in my school with one of the highest overall marks, even in English. My circle of friends expanded and I found myself to be very likable by all. I had a close group of friends that also happened to be quite popular.

R Kelly - I Believe I Can Fly

Classic from Space Jam. Back then, that movie was the bomb. I used to watch it all the time. My favourite scene was when Michael Jordan's arm stretched 10m in order for him to make the shot and win the game for the... cartoon characters? Ha it's been ten years since I've seen that movie. I still have it on video (stolen from my cousins) :)

Cher - Believe

I was never quite fond of this song but it's... catchy once you listen to it over and over again. This reminds me of when my sister and I would just stay in my parents' room for hours watching music videos. We'd dance to the Spice Girls and sing Mel C's diva-like solos. Additionally, we watched this fancy show called Hit List on YTV (wow) and thought it was the coolest show ever. It airing on TV was pretty much the highlight of my week. From that show, I discovered my "love" for N Sync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, etc. haha

M2M - Don't Say You Love Me

I was pretty much obsessed with Pokemon back in the day. The craze lasted for years! And before that there was Pogs, Crazy bones, etc. M2M was also one of the groups I watched on Hit List. Don't Say You Love Me is still on my computer and I listen to it on occasion. It's a great tune :D

Time of Your Life - Green Day
A classic. I cry to this sometimes. This was the "unofficial" grad song of my grade 6 year because my friends and I loved it so much that we just sang it whenever we got the chance to. And one of our teachers ended up playing it for graduation. :'( tear  

I'm really happy to report that I can almost do the salchow jump now. I worked for 2 days on the 3turn alone and now I can get the 3turn and spiral into the jump. The only part I need to work on now is the actual take off and landing. I hope to accomplish the salchow by the end of my first year of university. So far, 3 jumps I know how to do: toe-loop, waltz, salchow

During my figure skating class today, I learned two jumps, the toe loop and the waltz jump. I can do both half rotation. I think that's pretty good for the first time learning them.

I can now stop on my skates too! I realized I couldn't with my old skates because my old skates were really flat and had no curve at the side that allowed for any decent stopping.

My goal for the end of the term is to learn the rest of the jumps to a half rotation. Dream big is what I always say.

1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket.
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail.
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Chocolate milkshake.
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling.
14. A good conversation.
15. The beach.
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
18. Holding a newborn baby.
19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke.
24. Friends.
25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
27. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
29. Playing with a new puppy.
30. Having someone play with your hair.
31. Sweet dreams.
32. Hot chocolate.
33. Road trips with friends.
34. Swinging on swings.
35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
36. Making chocolate chip cookies.
37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
38. Holding hands with someone you care about.
39. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
40. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.
41. Watching the sunrise.
42. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
43. Knowing that somebody misses you.
44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
45. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.


Now, I'm not a big fan of forwards but after reading this, it truly left me with a feeling of.. euphoria if you will. That's why I decided to share this with all of you.

Haha, I remember back when I first started using the Internet (when I first got my email, back in grade 6). I was so stupid that I actually believed those chain letters along the lines of "send this to ten friends and a secret message will be revealed." Since I didn't have any contacts back then, I just kept making up emails and sending forwards to random people. And I did this repeatedly because the message kept not showing up! And then one day one of the people emailed me back and told me to stop emailing him. Haha!

I've run out of "food" in my dorm for the past few days. Although the cafeteria is only a 1-minute walk from my dorm, I'm simply too lazy to head out in this -20 degree weather. Thus, I've been "creative" with what I can eat.

Firstly, since I'm lactose intolerant, eating cereal with soy milk is extremely normal for me (yes, it sounds gross at first but it tastes sooooo good). I ran out of soy milk (those things are so volatile!) and thus I started eating cereal with water. It's actually not as nasty as it sounds. Trust me.

I have microwavable oatmeal available in my room. It sat in my room untouched for 1.5 months but since I got desperate, I decided to fix myself some oatmeal. However, since I'm not allowed to consume sugar or salt, I decided to add some V8 to the oatmeal to give it some flavour. Sounds nasty doesn't it? Well, it actually tasted much better than expected! It kind of tastes like pasta but with more oats. It's really great.

I suggest you try some of these home-experimented "recipes" if you will.

I bought my first pair of "professional" figure skates today. They're Jackson Ultima skates. I'm not sure of the exact model though (should've checked). My size is 6.5B but I got a 7B. The man says they should be fine. I hope.

My friend asked me if I would be willing to spend thousands of dollars on figure skates if I reached the level that required so. I would. I don't care if I have to work hard for my money and if I will have no disposable income for a while as long as I am able to purchase something that genuinely brings happiness to my life.

Can't wait to skate with my new skates this Thursday

I have a ballet examination in two weeks. I'm quite satisfied with my progress within the past four weeks. Besides myself and my teacher, even some of my classmates have noticed a huge improvement in my performance. It really boosted my self-confidence today when one of my fellow classmates commented on how great of an improvement I've made.

I was speaking to my friend who did 15 years of ballet and she said that the stuff we're doing is equivalent to what she did 10 years ago. So I guess I'm working on ballet technique that kids with 5 years of experience are doing? I'm quite happy about the high rate of success for older ballet dancers.

In about 2 weeks time, my ballet class is going to start doing pirouettes. I can't wait. They look so pretty and graceful and it would be a pleasure to be able to learn the technique behind such a stunning movement.


Today I attended my skating class. My forward and backward crossovers are pretty much rock solid and I don't even stumble a little when I'm switching between legs. My teacher taught us how to spin today and I'm going to set a goal of being able to do 5 rotations on two-foot spin and at least 2 rotations on one-foot spin by the end of this term. Yes, I'm ambitious but I'm hoping that I will be able to learn quickly enough! As of the moment, I can do about 3ish rotations on two-foot and one rotation on one foot.


I went swimming yesterday and I can officially say that I can now do the breaststroke. What a terrific feat! I spent about 3 months working on it and now I can actually do it. It feels really good when you master your goals!